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(No Modelk) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

T W. SELLEES & w. LEWIS.

LOGOMOTIVE CRANE;

No. 515,025. Patented Feb. 20, 1 894.

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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W.- SELLERS & W. LEWIS.

LOGOMOTIVE CRANE.

'No.515,025. 'PatentedPb.20,1894.

i (No Model.) I Y I 4Sheets-$heet 3.

W. SELLERS & W. LEWIS.

LOGOMIOTIVE CRANE.

.No. 515,025. Patented Feb. 20, 1894.

WITNESSES: //V VE/V T0198:

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet.

W. SELLE R,S & W. LEWIS. LOGOMOTIVE CRANE.

No. 51 5.0250 "Patented Feb. 20,1894.

, 'WITLVZQES'. I l/vm/roes ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM SELLERS AND W ILFRED LEWIS,OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE WILLIAM SELLERS 8: COMPANY, INCORPORATED, OF

SAME PLACE.

LOCOMOTIVE-CRAN E.

. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 515,025, dated February 20, 1894.

Application filed Augpst 12, 4893. Serial No 48 3,027. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM SELLERS and ,WILFRED LEWIS, of the city and county of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in'Locomotive-Cranes, of which improvements the following is a specification. The type of crane .to which our invention is more particularly adapted, is that one, in

TO which the jib and its frame work, the hoisting mechanism, the steam engine and the boiler, are all mounted upona platform which is rotatable about a vertical axis. This platform is mounted upon a second platform or carriage which is usually supported by wheels above a track upon which it may travel from :place to place. In the small cranes of this type which travelupon the ordinary width of track, it is not unusual to adapt the engine .for hoisting so as also to travel the carriage from place to place whether the track is straight or curved, the four track wheels being mounted upon two axles as in the ordinary car trucks. In' the larger types of these cranes, the rails which form the track are so far apart that provision must be made for retating the wheels at difierent velocities whenever the crane travels upon a curved track, hence the use of such cranes has been confined almost exclusively to straight tracks. When such cranes have been adapted to travel automatically upon curved tracks, the journals of the wheel axles have been supported upon springs to distribute the load over all of the wheels, so that those which propel the carriage may have. weight enough to prevent them from slipping. These wheels are midway between the carrying wheels on each rail, and they must have a lateral traverse sufficient to accommodate the curvature of the track. The distribution of the load upon the carrying wheels, by means of springs, is objectionable, as their tension cannot be uniform, while their range is limited.

5 The object of our improvement, is to effect a uniform distribution of the load by balance beams, and to transmit power to the track wheels through the vertical axes about which the beams and trucks vibrate when the crane travels from a straight to a curved track, or vice versa.

The character of our improvement will be apparent, upon examining the drawings which form a part of this specification, in connection with the following description thereof.

Figure 1 represents a side elevation of our crane and its carriage, showing eight track wheels upon a side, gearing whereby the power of the steam engine is transmitted through the crane platform to the track wheels and the steam engine and boiler for. actuating the whole. Fig. 2 is an end view of the base of Fig. 1 showing the gearing for transmitting power to the track wheels. Fig. 3 is an end view of a lower platform or carriage of a crane with four wheels on a side, showing the arrangement of gearing for transmitting power to the track wheels. Fig. 4 is a plan of the same, with the platform removed between the broken line and the dotted outline. Fig. 5 is an elevation of one quarter of the lower platform or carriage of the crane, showing the mode of transmitting power to the track wheels when there are but four wheels on a side, and Fig. 6 is a section through the axis of the epicyclic train. Fig. 7 represents the parts shown in Fig. 1 enlarged, and with the lower platform and its wheels at right angles to their position as shown in Fig. 1.- Fig. 8 represents the parts shown in Fig.2 enlarged, and with the lower platformand its wheels at right angles to their position as shown in Fig. 2. larged side View of the gearing for elevating and depressing the crane shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 10 represents an end view of the same.

The hoisting and turning gear of this crane .form no part of our present invention, so that it is unnecessary to describe this part of the apparatus.

In Fig.1 A is a platform upon which ismounted the frame work B B of the crane, supported at O 0 upon pin joints D D, about which it can vibrate as the outer end is raised or depressed by rotating the screw E. This screw is supported at the geared end by the vertical post F, the inclined post G and th g- 9 represents a links F, one of each post and two links on each side of the platform A. The two posts F serve as supports for the hoisting and reversing gear as also the steam engine G which is supplied with steam from the boiler A upon the same platform. The platform A is supported upon conical rollers which travel in two circular troughs,one attached to the under side of the platform A,the other mounted upon the upper side of the platform H, in which troughs the rollers revolve about their horizontal axes as the platform A is rotated about its vertical axis, so as to direct the crane to anyrequired position. To the lower roller trough a series of gear segments a. at a is firmly secured so as to form a gearwheel, and into this gear wheel a pinion b Fig. 7, meshes, so that by the rotation of this pinion the platform A will be driven around its vertical axis.

Upon one end of a shaft in the reversing gear, mounted on posts F, which by means of friction clutches can be rotated in either direction, a sprocket wheel 0 is mounted and by means of the sprocket chain c motion in either direction is imparted to the sprocket wheel (2 on the bevel wheel shaft d Figs. 2 and 8. From this shaft motion is communicated by bevel wheels e e, e e to the shaft I Figs. 1 and 8. From this shaft motion is communicated to the shafts J and K Figs. 2 and 7, and to similar shafts at the other end of the platform H, as indicated by the dotted circle in the truck beam Fig. 8, by a train of epicyclic gearing in each case. This epicyclic gearing'is shown in section in Fig. 6.

On the shaft J is'keyed a bevel wheel J and on the shaft K is keyed a similar bevel wheel K. The shafts J and K project through their respective bevel wheels, so as to meet in the centerof the large bevel wheel L which is supported by and turns freely on the projecting ends of the shafts J and K. This wheel supports the bevel wheels L L upon journal pins ff at right angles to the shafts J and K, so that the wheels L L can turn freely upon these pins. As thus arranged, if the bevel wheel L is rotated and the shafts J and K rotate with equal facility, they will do so at like velocities, and the bevel wheels L L will not turn upon their axes, but if there is greater resistance to turning in one of the shafts J or K, the one having the most resistance will either stop or go slower than the other, the difference in velocity being compensated by the rotation of the wheels L L about their axes. By transmitting the power from the engine to the driving wheels through such gearing, the gears upon one side of the platform become the fulcrum upon which .pressure can be exerted to drive those upon the opposite side, the velocities of the two track wheels may vary but the resistance will be always balanced, so that upon a tangent, the track wheels will rotate at the same velocity, while on a curve they will rotate at different velocities, proportioned to the distance each wheel has to travel.

To enable the crane to travel upon a tangent and upon a curve with equal facility, we arrange the track wheels in pairs, one at each end of a truck which vibrates about a vertical axis and is balanced on a horizontal one, so that the flanges of the wheels will so adjust the truck about the vertical axis, that both wheels will track either upon a straight rail or upon one bent to any radius. This is shown in Figs. 1, 5, and 8, in which the trucks M are represented as provided with a track wheel N at each end supported upon axles which revolve in journal boxes g bolted to the under side of the trucks. The weight is imposed upon the truck at the center it on surfaces which can slide upon each other horizontallyabouta vertical axis. In this vertical axis a shaftj is fixed so that it may rotate freely aboutits axis. Upon thelowerendof this shaft a bevel pinion i is fixed, Figs. 2 and 3, which gears with the bevel'wheel M mounted upon a shaft m supported in journal boxes, on the bottom ofthe truck, midway between the twotrack wheels. The axles of these track wheels are each provided with agear wheel j of a diameter to gear with the pinion z" mounted upon the shaft m midway between the two track wheels. As thus arranged the rotation of the shaftj will cause the trucks to travel upon the rail, and as this shaftis in the axis about which the truck vibrates, its rotation is not affected by the rotatory movement the truck must make in passing from a tangent toacurve or vice versa, while the weight which the truck supports in its center will be distributed alike upon each of its two wheels. When the weight of the crane and its load is distributed through the beams 0 (Figs. 1, 2 and 8) to the center of the trucks M, which, is the plan we adopt when sixteen track wheels are employed to distribute the weight upon the track, the weight of the lower platform His transmitted to the center of the beams O which vibrate about vertical axes in the platform H. In these axes and through each of the beams O is a shaft and upon the under side of each beam on the projecting end of the shaft 70 is mounted a bevel wheel Z and a spur wheel m securely fastened upon the end of the shaft 70 so that the angular position of the two wheels will be constant. The spur wheel m at each corner of the platform II gears with a spur wheel m" secured on the end of a shaft 70' which passes through the beam 0 to its upper side, and on the projecting end of this shaft is mounted and firmly secured a spur wheel 12., this wheel a gears with the wheel a securely fastened upon the upperprojecting end of the shaft j which rotates freely in the axis about which the truck M vibrates, and on the lower end of which is the gearing before described which transmits motion to the track wheels N N. As thus arranged, when motion is communicated to the bevel wheel Z, the

same willbe communicated to the track wheels N N through the vertical axes about which the shaft J opposite to that on which is mounted the epicyclic train previously described, and a bevel wheel P, meshing with the wheel Z, is mounted and firmly secured on the end of the shaft K opposite to that on which is mounted the epicyclic train, so that by the rotation of this train, the shafts J and K will be rotated, and motion willbe communicated to the bevel wheels 1 and Z. The shafts J and K are supported in bearings 10 p 10 10 suspended to the under side of the carriage or platform H and transversely thereto, so as to couple the track wheelsN N together on opposite sides of the platform H. When the platform H is supported upon eight track wheels, Figs. 3, 4 and 5, the beam 0 is not required, and motion is communicated to the shaft j from the epicyclic train through the bevel wheels Q and Q which mesh with wheels q and g on the vertical shafts a" and r, and on ,the upper ends of these shafts are mounted the pinions It and R which .mesh with the spur wheels S and S mounted upon the upper ends of the shafts j j which are in the axes about which thetrucks M Mvibrate. A crane arranged therefore, as hereinbefore described, has its weight distributed equably upon all of its wheels, and the power is transmittedfrom the engine on the platform A to the track wheels N N through the vertical axis of the platform to and through the trains of epicyclic gearing, and through the vertical axes about which the beams and trucks vibrate, whereby the crane will travel automatically upon any railway upon which it can be mounted, whether straight or curved.

Having thus shown and described our improvement in locomotive cranes, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 'is- 1. In a locomotive crane, in combination, hoisting and propelling apparatus mounted upon a platform, rotatable about a vertical axis, upon a second platform supported upon I beams and trucksvibratable about vertical axes, the trucks resting upon horizontal axles supported by track wheels, a vertical shaft in the axis of the rotatable platform an epicyclic train, a vertical shaft in an axis about which a beam vibrates a vertical shaft in an axis about which a truck vibrates, a horizontal shaft in a truck, and a geared track wheel the combination being and operating substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a locomotive crane, in combination, hoisting and propelling apparatus mounted upon a platform rotatable about a vertical axis, upon a second platform supported upon trucks vibratable about vertical axes, the

trucks resting upon horizontal axles supported by track wheels,avertical shaft in the axis of the rotatable platform, an epicyclic train, a vertical shaft in an axis about which a truck vibrates, a horizontal shaft in the truck and a geared track wheel the combination being and operating substantially as and for the purposes set forth. 1

3. In a locomotive crane, in combination, a

truck on each of two opposite sides of a plat- .form each-vibrat-able about its vertical axis train to a track wheel in each truck, the com bination being and operating substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

WM. SELLERS. WILFRED LEWIS.

Witnesses:

J OHN L. PHILLIPS, I E. R. HARPER. 

